Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

TENNESCENE MAR. 8-21

LEADERS

Mike Thrower

Mike Thrower

Mike Thrower, director of missions, Beech River Baptist Association, based in Lexington, retired Jan. 31 after serving almost 15 years. He has be en called as minister to senior adults and of pastoral care, First Baptist Church, Lexington. Formerly he was pastor, Brunswick Baptist Church, Brunswick, for 20 years; and pastor of two churches in Mississippi for six years. Thrower is a graduate of New Orleans (La.) Baptist Theological Seminary.

David and Mary Demps, house managers of Stoneway Acres — White House (for men), Lebanon, of Tennessee Baptist Adult Homes, based in Brentwood, are retiring. The couple has served TBAH for 20 years. The Demps also are directors of the special needs ministry of Immanuel Baptist Church, Lebanon. They will be honored by the church on Sunday, March 26 at 7 p.m. For more information, contact Tricia Culver at 615-444-8820 or wcba@wcbamissions.com. [Read more…]

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C-N STUDENTS CHOOSE NEPAL OVER BEACH

C-N News Office

carson-newman-logo2JEFFERSON CITY — Carson-Newman University students and members of the campus community waived traditional Spring Break activities to take part in the university’s annual spring SPOTS missions trips.

Beginning March 1, teams left campus to serve in locations including Chattanooga, St. Louis, Mo., and Washington D.C.

Carson-Newman also sent its first 11-member team to Nepal. Chad Morris, associate director of campus ministries and coordinator of the trips, said the trip will be memorable. [Read more…]

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FAMILY CHOOSES CP FOR MEMORIAL

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Levi Parish

Levi Parish

NEWPORT – Levi Parish spent the better part of his ministry supporting and encouraging others to support the Cooperative Program.

So when he passed away on Feb. 26, it was only natural that the family wanted to do something special in his memory.

“He loved missions,” Sherry Parish said of her husband of 53 years. “In every church we served, he encouraged the church to increase its giving through the Cooperative Program,” she recalled. “He was a strong believer and supporter of the Cooperative Program his entire ministry. [Read more…]

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TBC GIFTS HOLD STEADY

Baptist and Reflector

cplogoBRENTWOOD – Tennessee Baptist Convention churches contributed $2,789,097 through the Cooperative Program in February.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $11,818,634. The amount is $145,614 or 1.2 percent below what was given at the same time last year.  [Read more…]

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CHURCH SUPPORT CENTER IN FINAL STAGES (PHOTOS)

  • The final touches are underway on the new Church Support Center which will house the offices of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. The facility is located in the Berry Farms mixed development community just off I-65, south of Franklin. For the past three years the TBMB offices have been located in the LifePoint Building at 330 Seven Springs Way in Brentwood. The TBMB offices are slated to move from its current facility by the end of May. — Photo by Corinne Williams
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IMB APPOINTS MISSIONARIES

Baptist Press

Aaron and Melissa Stormer, sent to take the gospel to American peoples by Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, share their testimony during a Sending Celebration March 1 near Richmond, Va. "We are going because we know that God’s heart is for all people to know his name," Aaron said. Photo by Roy M. Burroughs/IMB

Aaron and Melissa Stormer, sent to take the gospel to American peoples by Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, share their testimony during a Sending Celebration March 1 near Richmond, Va. “We are going because we know that God’s heart is for all people to know his name,” Aaron said. Photo by Roy M. Burroughs/IMB

RICHMOND — Twenty-nine Southern Baptists were appointed as missionaries to the nations during the International Mission Board’s trustee meeting Feb. 28-March 1 near Richmond.

Trustees also heard numerous reports and recognized 63 missionaries who retired or died within the past year.
Among those appointed were Aaron and Melissa Stormer of Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, who are being sent to the American peoples. Aaron said they are going “because we know that God’s heart is for all people to know His name.”

Melissa noted she realized God’s heart for the nations while sharing the gospel in a small mountain village in Haiti. … God has called us to go and carry out His mission in order that the lost may be found and His truth proclaimed,” she said.

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STEVE GAINES EXHORTS SOUTHERN BAPTISTS TO PRAY

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines encouraged prayer and evangelism in his sermon at the SBC Executive Committee meeting Feb. 20-21 in Nashville. -Photo by Morris Abernathy

Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines encouraged prayer and evangelism in his sermon at the SBC Executive Committee meeting Feb. 20-21 in Nashville.
-Photo by Morris Abernathy

NASHVILLE — In Nashville all of 24 hours while his wife Donna was home in Memphis, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines had already spoken with her four times, he said, because he loves her and simply loves to hear her voice.

The conversations with his wife served as an analogy to encourage Southern Baptists to talk with God and tell others about our Savior, the theme of his sermon on the first evening of the SBC Executive Committee meeting in Nashville Feb. 20-21. [Read more…]

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THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF WITHHOLDING COOPERATIVE PROGRAM GIVING

By Lonnie Wilkey and Chris Turner
Baptist and Reflector

TBC_CP_BudgetBRENTWOOD — For the past few years, giving through the Cooperative Program has been on an upswing in Tennessee and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention.

Recent developments across the Southern Baptist Convention, however, raise questions about whether the upswing in Cooperative Program giving will continue. [Read more…]

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‘THE SHACK’ FILM STIRS DEBATE AS DID PRECEDING BOOK

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

170228the-shackNASHVILLE (BP) — A fictional and emotionally destroyed Mack Phillips answers a mysterious invitation to a remote, isolated cabin. There he finds a trinity of fatherly love in a woman named “Papa” whose cohorts teach Phillips forgiveness and the faith to run on water — literally.

It’s the synopsis of the movie “The Shack,” based on William Paul Young’s New York Times bestseller and award-winning book by the same title, that some described as a biblically sound parable. And as with the 2007 controversial book that sold more than 20 million copies, others are criticizing the movie as a farce that serves to deeply distort rather than affirm biblical truths. [Read more…]

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PLANETS’ DISCOVERY SAID TO INCITE MISPLACED HOPE

By David Roach
Baptist Press

Rendering from NASA

Rendering from NASA

NASHVILLE (BP) — At least some of scientists’ enthusiasm over discovery of seven potentially habitable planets seems to reflect the misplaced hopes of a secular worldview.

That is the assessment of a Union University physicist and a Gateway Seminary Old Testament professor following NASA’s Feb. 22 announcement that astronomers have detected the first known system of seven Earth-sized planets rotating around a single star. [Read more…]

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